1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate to a method for transmitting, to a mobile device, multimedia contents where qualities are hierarchically divided, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method that may reduce a zapping delay while reducing an amount of used communication resources.
2. Description of the Related Art
A delay generated when several multimedia channels such as a mobile Internet Protocol television (IPTV) exist and a channel is frequently changed by a user is referred to as zapping delay, and the zapping delay may cause considerable inconvenience to users. The zapping delay generated in a Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) is known to be about three to five seconds.
In addition, in radio communication schemes such as a Digital Video Broadcasting-Handheld (DVB-H) scheme, a Long Term Evaluation (LTE) scheme, and the like, a method for momentarily receiving a significant amount of data in a relatively short time period (burst) may be used to reduce delay generated at the time of data reception, and the burst may be repeated in a cycle of about four to five seconds. In this instance, since the burst received when the channel is changed is also changed, the zapping delay may occur for the same time period as that required until the burst corresponding to the changed channel is completely received, when the channel is changed.
Accordingly, there is a demand for a method and apparatus that may reduce the zapping delay using characteristics of a video coding scheme and a burst based-communication scheme.